Strawberry Mountain has been around the way for awhile, just not necessarily as montaña de la fresa. Formerly known as Basement Surfers, the DIY music and art collective are as large with their sounds as they are with their member count. Having played two sets at Freakout this year attendees were able to enjoy them twice over, but their sounds were entirely perfect for the Conor Byrne and its crowd.

Aside from their all-ages "2nd chance" Filson set Strawberry Mountain packed onto the Conor Byrne's stage as festival goers crowded the walkways of the bar-venue, lining up for Will Call tickets and press check-in. Upon their first notes the heads in the room focused with intrigue on their expansive, experimental psych sounds, much of which came from their early 2017 album Human Music.

With that album and everything prior, Strawberry Mountain are definitely ones we'll keep our eyes on.

<a href="http://strawberrymountain.bandcamp.com/album/human-music">Human Music by Strawberry Mountain</a>

What can really be said about Future Shock? The duo, comprised of futuristic characters RayGun and The Doctor, can put your world down, flip it and reverse it with their sounds. They took over Hattie's Hat the first night of this year's Freakout Festival and in every sense, they definitely ran the place.

Commanding the back room of Hattie's with a creatively confident air, Future Shock were unapologetically themselves; their afro-nu wave-neo soul a force that no one in the audience could really reckon with. An amalgamation to the likes of Kraftwerk, Tribe Called Quest, Bowie and new wave greats, Future Shock, fog machine and bull horn in tow, ran through incredibly dancey tracks like "The Future," "Time & Space" and "Secret Weapon," all of which were very well received. With one of the most captivating and overall entertaining sets of the entire festival, if they weren't on your radar before they definitely need to be now.

They may not play sets very often but it's more than worth it if you're able to catch one. Follow Future Shock's Facebook to see when they're taking the stage next.

Playing what was predominately a psych-surf themed night at the KEXP Audioasis stage at the Sunset Tavern, chill-goth trio Baywitch brought to the table their own ideas of what that sounds like. Self dubbed "antisurf," which is the cleverly infectious meld of anti-folk and surf rock, Baywitch created an near subsea experience on the Sunset's stage for their Saturday Freakout set.

With all the colorful lights creating an aquamarine experience, Baywitch rocked through tracks off their early summer album Hellaspawn. Fetching, fast-paced riffs mask some pretty doomy themes, like having panic attacks because of pot brownies as told on “I.O.D.T.H.C.” or how "Black Holes" describes the overwhelming turmoil of the fascist movement happening across the country. Their sounds are, however, charming enough that it's easy to forget there's real life subject matter in their lyrics.

Baywitch have got quite a few shows coming up and more details on them can be found here.

Hip hop may have been one of the least represented genres at Freakout Fest this year, but the fest still managed to present strong acts of interest within the city's movement. One in particular proudly reps her White Center locale, and it's just another detail that adding to what makes Taylar Elizza Beth an artist to be aware of.

Friday was pretty lit at Hattie's Hat and quite a bit of that was because of Taylar Elizza Beth, also known as Taylar White. She's played packed houses before, like earlier this year at the Upstream Music Fest, but the mid-20s raptress (that's rapper and songstress, FYI) is gaining even more warranted attention as her late May EP Fresh Cut Flowers continues to secure its bag, so to speak.

Fresh Cut Flowers takes a different approach to hip-hop than her debut, 2014's The BLK EP. On it, her flow likens itself more to an old school delivery of loquacity, where with Flowers White is mellow and intimate with her recitation. This is no way takes away from the power and magnetism White emits during her performances, especially at Hattie's Hat, where she sucked everyone in like a vacuum.

In all of their experimental, riff-pop glory, Moon Darling recall simpler psychedelic sensibilities, combined with some pretty endearing and crafted synth pop. The foursome is comprised of Michael Julian Escobar on vox/guitar, Michelle Nuño on drums, Matthew Buckner on keys and Jack Jay on bass, and their joint forces create soundscapes that are both classic and innovative.

Though they only played one slot at Freakout Fest, an early evening set at the Conor Byrne, the band have been up to so much more recently. Shortly before the played the fest Moon Darling debuted a new track. "By the Light of the Moon" is coming off of their upcoming January EP of the same name, a followup to their addictive Dreams.

On "By the Light of the Moon" there's a point in which each member shines, be it Escobar's incredible fingerwork or gripping approach to vocals, the stark and necessary breaks of Nuño's drumming, or the enigmatic keyboarding of Buckner and Jack Jay's deliberate bass playing. The title track provides perfect insight into the rest of the EP, and they're having a release show for it on 1.25 at the Fred Wildlife Refuge with Kingdom of the Holy Sun and DJ Right Ternes, so mark your calendars.

The Deli Magazine was born in NYC's Attorney Street in 2004, in the shape of a print issue with a then unknown band on its cover, called Grizzly Bear. Ths NYC blog came in 2005, then the SF one in 2006, and then 9 more in the following years. The Deli is focused on the coverage of emerging bands and solo artists with a 100% local focus - no exceptions!